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I moved from the UK to the US in 2003, with just a couple of bags of stuff. I threw away a bunch of my possessions when I moved, and the stuff I couldn't bear

I moved from the UK to the US in 2003, with just a couple of bags of stuff. I threw away a bunch of my possessions when I moved, and the stuff I couldn't bear to throw away, I left in storage in the UK. On one of my trips back, I found a few big boxes full of my stuff and really couldn't remember what was in them. I'd been out of the country for a couple of years by that point, and clearly hadn't actually missed whatever was in these boxes. I threw them away without even opening them - still have no idea what they contained ;)

dlib 17y ago
That sort of sums up my rule. If I haven't used it in the past five years, I toss it out. It's only rarely that I come across something that I threw away earlier. Only exception to this rule is books and I doubt that'll change.
- kscaldef 17y ago
  You might be surprised. I used to think I would never get rid of any books. At some point after N moves and a decade of my decor being dominated by bookshelves I decided I no longer needed to own every book I had ever read in my life. I sold most of my text books on Amazon, except for my intro college science texts which I gave, along with most of my pop-sci books, to someone who worked with gifted high school students so he could pass them along. Most of the rest of the books went to a local used bookstore, or to the library. I kept my favorite books by my favorite authors; only the stuff I was sure I would reread. And, it turns out, I don't miss any of the books I got rid of.